Nova Corps 2 , Operation: Red Dragon (Prologue)
by THANOSRULES
Summary: While a huge battle in space begins to develop, Denarion Luck's new squad draws a tough assignment in the swamps of Pericles' Crossing. A surprise attack by the Badoon leads to a shocking discovery! Guest Starring: Crystar: Crystal Warrior and perhaps one other forgotten 80s toy!


Nova Corps: Operation: Red Dragon (Prologue) Nova Corps Episode #2

Story by Bryan Dyke

Murfle kicked up a huge clump of dirt with his boot as he walked in front of me. It hit my visor and stuck like spackle to the front of my helmet. All of us were covered in this damn PC mud. It stuck to your boots and made your Nova suit smell like a sewer. My feet weighed a ton from the mud build up and made walking much harder. You could not even see my Denarion rank under the thick layer of swamp scum.

"This D'ast rot, my feet are like hamburger." Corpsmen Redhawk said as he followed behind me.

"Shut up Hawk, Crystar said no talking, besides, all our feet hurt man." Murfle said back to him in a loud whisper. Redhawk didnt bother talking back. I just heard him swear something under his breath about Kree.

_We were all tired of humping around these humid swamps_, Denarion James Luck thought as he put his head down and kept walking.

The horizon of Pericles Crossing was often an alluring shade of blood red. It clashed with the grey swirling sky and formed a seductive visual. Now, tiny specks of light were flashing in the air. It was a sure sign of star ships arriving in the upper orbit. As I looked up, the sky was lighting up with more and more activity. It seemed like something unusual was going on up there.

I did not know it then, but my squad was about to become involved in one of the biggest battles of the war. High above, _Operation: Red Dragon_ was under way. The problem was, they forgot to tell us about it.

—

Our squad had been kicking around the swamps of the planet for a few weeks. The fighting had been fierce and the casualties were numerous. We were still looking for pockets of Badoon in the "hospitable" portion of the lovely PC countryside. "Recon by fire" they called it. Our job was to patrol around like woodchucks and wait for some Badoon to shoot at us. We were the guys who volunteered to get ambushed. It was a raw deal, but the only thing that really worked. Most of PC was under control of the Nova Corps now, but a few large pockets of Badoon needed to be rooted out in the good old swampy pits of the "sweet spot" of the planet.

Meanwhile, up in space, the fleet was prepping for the inevitable Badoon counter attack. Command described our role as "clean up operations", but most of us knew they were just the kind of Ops where acting sloppy could get you killed.

The swamp had no problems being sloppy. PC was a tidal locked planet. It didn't rotate and the same side always faced the local star. That there was any life on the hellhole at all was a minor miracle. But, somehow, life managed to fester in these awful swamps. The temperature here was "just right" for the evolution of life. Unfortunately, it was just terrible life. Here it was always twilight.. or dawn, depending how you looked at it. The light played weird tricks with your head.

Even though the swamps teemed with life, it was a horrid and noxious place. If the flesh eating bacteria globules didn't get you, the toxic cloud bursts and explosive acid geysers would.

The local life forms were another matter. Huge stalking reptiles, carnivorous insects, and blood sucking snake things were everywhere. No wonder the Badoon loved it. Those bastards loved the heat and the reptiles must have made them feel right at home.

I actually preferred fighting in the charcoal grill that was the rest of PC to this place.

The platoon had marched all day through the swamp and lost four guys along the way. We got ambushed by a Badoon patrol a few hours ago. As a result, the squad had to break contact through an alternate route and got separated from the main company. At that point, we were basically lost.

"Let's head for that high ground, " Centurion Crystar said, as he pointed to a slightly elevated tuft of dry land. One of the Corpsman struggled to pull his boot from the muck.

Centurion Crystar was our new Squad Leader in this outfit. He was a quiet guy. Crystar got his name with good reason. He was made completely of crystal, or something exactly like it…living crystal maybe. He didn't talk about it much. When you asked him where he was from or what he did before the war, he never gave anyone an answer. I never saw or heard of anyone who looked like him in the Corps. Nobody knew what his native race was or where his home world was located. I can tell you that we all liked him. He was a born leader and you knew he was comfortable in the front of the pack. He was fair to us and let us do a lot on our own. He treated us like professionals. He didn't micromanage us and he spoke to us like men (or women). We were all proven Corpsmen here and it felt good someone recognized it.

This new unit was a special group within Nova SOF, the "Champions of Xandar" Battalion. We were all seasoned vets who had survived several battles.

Some of the other men were placed here because they had some sort of powers or unique abilities. They had been mostly recruited from Earth, Halaa and Titan. Despite that, the Champions still needed a few blokes who were just good with a gun, and that summed up Murfle and me.

Crystar was one of those guys who was not so normal. Besides his diamond hard skin, he was strong and quick. He didn't even have much Nova tech boosting his abilities. I saw him lift a boulder once that must have weighed a few tons. He insisted on carrying around a big sword that looked like it was a hundred years old. He mostly used a blaster though, just like the rest of us. I always knew when he whipped out that blade we were in a tough spot. I almost dreaded seeing it.

"Luck and Pirvat, go recon that structure", Crystar barked as most of them took a knee. He pointed to a small speck in the distance, barely visible through dense swamp air. Did I mention Crystar could see like an eagle?

Pirvat was one of those super humans from Earth recruited after the invasion. He used to run by the name of "Star Thief", though he didn't use it anymore. We would tease him about the name every now and then. The name "Pirvat" was not much better, but I wasn't one to talk. He was basically pure cosmic energy trapped in a containment suit. He could send out bolts through his arms if he wanted, but he said it weakened him. He used a shotgun mostly. He said he used to be able to fly, but he didn't do it much anymore either. He said, it too, took too much wind out of him.

"Luck, fire up the probes and run a remote scan of the building ahead." Crystar shouted. "Looks like some sort of storage connex. Very odd." He said to me, his voice was always a little funny, like someone talking through a fan.

Sometimes we would bump into abandoned connexes that the Nova Corps had air dropped from orbit during the initial invasion of PC. A lot of times they would have some extra supplies still in them. It was strange though, because there had not been many drops on this part of the planet.

I grabbed a "nano bat" pod from my cargo pocket and sent it skyward. They were remote flying drones we could use to obtain real time images of a potential objective. With a quick pop, two recon nano bats went flying toward the building.

Pirvat was right. The nano bats circled around the structure sending data to the squad. Soon after, images and analysis appeared in my Nova helmet's HUD. It was clearly a metal style connex built into the side of a small hill. The building had moss growing from the doors and looked like time had forgotten it. It defiantly was not an airdropped Nova Connex.

We bounded forward toward the building. Pirvat was pretty lousy at stealth. He glowed neon green in the face, made a horridly loud crackling noise, and you could smell him a mile away. He was fast though. He had been around awhile, I think I heard him say once he had fought with the New Warriors back on earth and maybe spent some time with the Inhumans.

"Crystar, you getting these scans?" Pirvat asked over the comm channel.

"Yeah, looks deserted, secure the outside and we'll bound up." He said as he motioned to the squad.

The loud crack through the air in the glaring silence sent a shock up both our spines. I must have jumped a foot.

Back at the squad, our medic, Denarion Aurora exploded as she was hit with a Badoon sniper round. The round ripped her in half and sent most of her in two different directions. She didn't even have time to scream. Her vital signs blinked to red on the HUD in my helmet , indicating a flatline. She was about my age and I had really liked her. She was from Attilan.

"Damn, get a perimeter set up, contact rear!" Crystar shouted.

We could see the squad flop down and a burst of gunfire and plasma rounds flew back and forth. Pirvat and I were still far from the position scouting out the bunker.

The battle was not too different than most of the others we had been picking off in the area. Seeking out Badoon resistance pockets was the mission after all.

Pirvat and I started bounding up back towards the squad. We held our fire for a few minutes. The HUD in our helmets told us right where the rest of the squad was, but the interference was intense.

Before I knew what hit me, I saw Crystar, Murfle and Corpsman Redhawk sprinting our way.

"Fall back! Get on line in the building" Crystar barked at me.

I did not need to be told twice, but as I looked back I saw Denarion Julie Razo take a round to the shoulder. She went down hard and slid through the mud.

Without saying a word, Pirvat and I bounded forward. I ran for her body while Pirvat sprayed the dark limits of the swamp with blasts from his shotgun. Explosive Flechettes from Pirvat's shells streamed through the thick trees and splintered the wood.

I picked up Razo and threw her over my shoulder. She was a small human girl from the Bronx, tough as nails. I could hear her groaning a bit with pain.

Laser rounds were hitting all around me and wood was shattering all over like confetti at a birth day party. I could hear the sound of Badoon hover tanks in the distance. I could make out a huge group of bad guys piling through the trees. It must have been an entire Badoon Brigade.

"We're screwed, Luck!" Pirvat said.

"No Flarking way! Not today Pirvy." I reached into one of my pouches and grabbed a grenade. Without looking I tossed it toward the wood line. A loud boom covered us as we fell back.

We turned hard and ran for the building. Crystar and what was left of the squad were putting down a wall of fire to cover our retreat.

As we got close to the giant metal door, I heard the sudden sound of breaking glass and a thud. Before I could look back, Pirvat was thrown forward and buried into the mud. I could see green energy leaking from a shattered crack on his chest piece. He raised his arm in pain. He had been hit hard by something.

I grabbed him by the collar with one hand and dragged him toward the door. The enemy fire whizzed by all around me and past my head. As I got closer, Murfle came from the door and grabbed Pirvat. We both put our heads down and went through the door.

Inside, I flopped down Razo on a dusty pile of debris. She seemed to be doing Thief however, was in bad shape. Murfle grabbed Pirvats chest and tried to keep his suit in tact with his gloved hand.

"Damn this is a bad spot, keep firing through the door or were dead." Crystar said as he unloaded his rifle at choice targets through the crack in the thick metal door. "Redhawk get on the horn for some air support!" He ordered.

"Dang, man we are meat out here if they cant get to us." Redhawk groaned.

For a second, I thought about poor Aurora. She was nice and pretty good looking. I wish things had been different for her.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Murfle asked as he clamped his hand down on Pirvat's smoking wound. Pirvat was gasping with apparent severe pain. He could not speak.

"I don't know" I said to myself.

"Luck, holding this wound is burning my hand." Murfle said as he grimaced with pain.

"Air support denied! D'ast!" Redhawk said. "They say something big is going on upstairs. Looks like the counter attack is on." Redhawk said as he worked the radio.

"Then we are on our own." Crystar said as he blasted with his rifle out the crack in the door.

"That settles it, were dead for sure then" Redhawk joked.

"Hawk shut your mouth or I'll do it myself, the Corps wont miss another junk earther out here." Crystar said.

Redhawk shut right up after that. He knew the blue man meant what he said.

"Luck, what about that junk behind us? See if there is anything of use. I'm almost out of ammo." Crystar said , pointing to the back of the connex toward the dirt underground chamber." Lets get a good count of what we have. Redhawk, get your butt with me and let's shoot some lizards."

I looked back at the room filled with dusty boxes and dirty sheet covered mechanics. Junk mostly. I thought I saw a wing from an old space shuttle and a space suit from earth's 1960s. There was an old Kree _Sentry_ with its head missing. I looked at it closer. The main capacitor was fried and a bunch of lizards were living in the housing unit. More useless junk, I thought.

I looked around some more. I could hear the others reporting what they had for ammo and explosives to Crystar.

In the back of the connex, I noticed a massive object hidden under a dusty old sheet. It was half the size of the room. Something giant was underneath.

"Murfle, help me with this sheet.", I said. Murfle came over and we tugged the huge dingy sheet off to the side.

What I saw under the sheet was _awesome_. It was a robot of some sort, like the Mandroids we had back on the Carrier, but it was much bigger, twice the size at least. It had some sort of cannons on its arms and shoulders. Its chest and fore arms were lined with sharp blades cutting blades. The jagged knives looked like they were made to cut through steel like butter. There were deep metal ruts and scars all over the huge black and red frame. It was certainly something _made for_ _war_. _Made for killing_, I thought.

The head of the mech had a pod with a small cockpit inside. A person can ride this thing, I wondered?

"What the hell is it?" Murfle asked, as he dragged Pirvat with him. I did not know what to say.

Redhawk turned his head, "Its a walking butcher shop, man, look at those blades!"

Crystar looked back and dropped what he was doing. "I'll be damned" he said lowering his rifle and putting on a big smile. "I have not seen one of those in years.." He added.

"Well, do you know what it is?" I asked, "It looks ancient".

"It's our ticket outta here is what it is." Crystar said as he pulled his big sword off his back.

"That, my friend, is a _Starrior_…" He said, as he looked back at me with a huge crystal smile.

NEXT: The Life and Times of SLAUGHTER STEELGRAVE!

_This story is a work of fan fiction and is not intended for any profit. All characters used without permission._

bryanyke


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